Chengdu: Team Malaysia Friday notes

LIM AND FAUZY RIDE THE BUMPS OF CHENGDU TRACK
The second round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport began today at the
Chengdu circuit in China with A1 Team Malaysia being given its first
taste of the track which is new to the series this season.

LIM AND FAUZY RIDE THE BUMPS OF CHENGDU TRACK

The second round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport began today at the
Chengdu circuit in China with A1 Team Malaysia being given its first
taste of the track which is new to the series this season. In the morning
Aaron Lim was given his first drive of the A1GP Powered by Ferrari car
and in the afternoon Fairuz Fauzy posted 10th fastest lap in the opening
practice session.

Lim drove the car this morning and enjoyed the power under the throttle
as well as the sharp braking capabilities of the carbon brakes. Fairuz
Fauzy took over the driving duties this afternoon to continue working
with the engineering team to set up the new car for the two races this
weekend. The team also welcomed young Malaysian driver, Jazeman Jaafar.

"It was incredible", said Lim after his session. "The
car lived up to its expectations, with the G forces produced by the down
force really amazing. I'm very happy to have driven the car. This
morning, with a new engine, we had to do lots of checks to do with this,
but after that I was able to put in some runs, although I'm not
optimising the down force of the car yet.

"It's the first car I've driven with such a high level
of down force, it was interesting to start to understand what it is all
about. The brakes were phenomenal. You can brake so, so late. I've
never driven a car with this type of brakes, which create grip with the
amount of down force which is produced." And of Chengdu Lim says,
"The Chengdu circuit layout is a real drivers circuit, very
technical and I think it'll produce some good racing."

Fairuz Fauzy ran 19 laps this afternoon before a technical problem
stranded the Malaysian car in the middle of the track and caused the
session to be stopped while the car was restarted. Fauzy was towed back
to the pits and the crew quickly set to work to identify the problem.

The A1GP winning driver said after his opening session of the weekend,
"We had a few engine problems today. In the beginning I was getting
used to the track so I took it steady. After four or five laps I started
to pick up more speed, but I found that the set up was too stiff for the
bumpy surface, so we made some changes and it felt more comfortable.
However we didn't have the speed of other cars and I was unsure as
to why we were off the pace. It turned out that there were technical
problems, so I think once we've sorted these we'll be on the
pace of the front runners."

Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive, A1 Team Malaysia, summed up the day
saying, "We're pleased with Aaron's strong start in the
rookie session today. He quickly adapted to the enhanced power of the new
A1GP car and started to understand the characteristics of the car and
gave us some valuable feedback and data from the session. Fairuz had a
small number of technical challenges which the team had to work through,
so we weren't able to make as much progress as we had hoped.
We've got these out of the way now and will be able to focus on
final preparations for qualifying and the races tomorrow."

The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, Chengdu, China continues tomorrow with
final practice and qualifying prior to the two races on Sunday.